Leo's machine
by Blackjack the Nargle
Summary: One-shot. Leo creates a machine to take out monsters. It works, but maybe a little too well...


**This was inspired by a writing prompt I saw on Pinterest. I own nothing. Nada.**

* * *

There was a list of things that could have gone wrong that day, but being shoved down the laundry chute was not on it.

Of course, Percy had known from the start that fighting monsters often got demigods killed in terrifying, painful ways.

But a laundry chute?

This was new.

The two gorgons behind him - Beano and Euryale - cackled. Then, to his mounting annoyance, they started sliding after him. Which led to a high speed chase. And a pile up at the bottom.

Percy pulled himself up and ran for his life, yelling to Nico and Will (who were possibly on the floor with laughter) to do something. The gorgons came after him and they tore through corridor after corridor.

"Go on this mission, _he said_." Percy muttered. "It'll be fun, _he said_."

Leo had asked Percy earlier to cause a distraction so that he could test out a new device for getting rid of monsters. Unfortunately, it was malfunctioning. Which meant that Percy had to carry on being live bait.

There were a bunch of demigods in an ancient, abandoned hotel, playing a huge game of hide-and-seek with the sister monsters. Two on each floor. Seven floors.

Which meant fourteen demigods.

Annabeth and Piper had teamed up, so naturally, Percy and Jason teamed up. The gorgons had, naturally, gone for them first, being sons of the big three and all.

So far, Jason had been tossed out of a grand total of twelve windows and Percy had almost died eight times.

They were doing well.

* * *

Nico and Will leaned against the wall weakly, barely able to stand. Seeing Percy pitched head-first down that laundry chute was the highlight of the day.

"We should do this more often." Will chuckled, holding out a hand to Nico and pulling him back up. "That was hilarious."

The Son of Hades gave him a rare grin (although, they were becoming less rare around Will) and pulled out an ancient map of the place.

"Okay, Leo wants us to lead them to the roof. Let's go help."

They took the stairs two at a time (the Stolls had broken the lift) and ran smack into Reyna and Clarisse.

"Hey!" Clarisse almost decapitated Nico when she pulled out her sword. He ducked - being short had advantages.

"Clarisse, please don't cut my boyfriend's head off. I'm not _that_ good at healing."

* * *

Percy led the gorgons back up to the fifth floor, where the Stolls were waiting.

Connor pointed at the floor, which Percy hit, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Two rockets whizzed over his head and - wait, rockets? Percy looked up at the sons of Hermes who grinned like they were plotting some dastardly plan.

From behind him, there were two identical shrieks as the rockets found their targets. The curling wallpaper around them was slightly scorched.

"Did you just kill them?" Percy managed to ask.

"Nah, slowed them down." Travis replied. "Come on, they'll be up soon."

Leo had given specific instructions to not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, kill them. It would ruin his master plan.

Of course, no one was exactly sure _what _his plan was.

"OKAY!" Leo's yell came from the roof, where he was waiting with his megaphone. "LET'S SEE WHAT THIS BABY DOES!"

There were relieved sighs from throughout the hotel. A couple of yells of "FINALLY!" and a stampede for the roof.

* * *

When everyone was there, Annabeth did a quick head-count. She frowned. "Wait - where's Percy?"

"Right here!" Percy came dashing onto the roof, followed by two irate gorgons. He dived for cover as Leo booted up his machine (which looked kinda like a steel dustbin with various pipes poking out of it. Some were leaking a strange, blue fluid.)

The machine sputtered and everyone's heart's stopped for a split second, praying that it would work.

Then the machine coughed and spewed blue fluid out of a horn at the top of it. It went everywhere. The stuff spattered the gorgons, who gave identical screams of rage as it solidified around them.

Leo grinned as he turned off the machine, before walking over to the now-solidified monsters (both frozen in hysterical positions with expressions of rage on their faces) and looking carefully at them, before turning back to the others.

"Done. Now we can ship them back off to Tartarus."

He was met by blank stares. Annabeth eventually found her voice.

"Leo, you said this would kill them."

"And it will. As soon as it solidifies, a tap-" He tapped Beano on the head. "Will destroy them." The statue crumbled away to dust. The demigods were impressed.

"We could turn this stuff into a decent weapon." Percy muttered. "Shoot it from catapults or hoses."

"Just one problem." Everyone turned to Reyna, who was staring at a point straight behind the gorgon still standing. "What if it hits one of our own?"

* * *

"Well, you see, I had a new weapon and-" Leo tried and failed to explain to Chiron, why exactly Nico di Angelo was covered in a glue that had basically turned him to stone.

Speaking of stone, that was the expression on Will's face as he stared at Leo, who was getting more and more agitated. "-and I was trying to use it, but I accidentally got Nico and-"

"Is there anything to melt it?"

"What?" Everyone in the room turned to Reyna, who was staring at Will. He returned her gaze thoughtfully.

"I guess...maybe..." Leo stammered.

"Go find it." Reyna instructed. "Jason and Piper can help you."

As soon as they were gone, Reyna turned back to Will and Chiron. "Don't let anyone even brush against him."

"Like I would." Will muttered. Reyna gave him a half-smile and stalked out.

* * *

It took Leo three days to find the antidote.

Three days of cursing and mixing various ingredients, before painting the lightest dab he could on Nico.

They all failed.

He stayed a statue. By the end of the second day, he was covered in different coloured patches of different attempts to thaw the glue.

Leo was at his wits end. But help arrived in the unexpected form of his half-brother, Hiro.

Most people knew Hiro as one of the Big Hero 6. Less people knew him as a son of Hephaestus. He dropped in to talk to Leo from time-to-time and talk robotics.

Hiro was no stranger to weird things, but he was still surprised when he was informed that Leo may-have-accidentally-turned-the-son-of-Hades-to-statue. It was a surprise to the demigods when Hiro pulled a random vial of something from his pocket.

"Try this. My friend made it - she's a chemist."

It worked.

Nico thawed and collapsed - straight into Will, who carted him off to the infirmary, where he needed rest - _But Will, I'm fine - No you're not, you've been a statue for three days - So I need food - And sleep. Doctor's orders. - _and could be caught up on what had happened.

* * *

Leo found his brother later, sitting by the lake.

"What _was _in that bottle?"

Hiro grinned. "Water."

* * *

**I just thought that Leo would fail to see the obvious solution to wash away his *experiment*. Please R&amp;R!**


End file.
